NATO 'Fears UK Too Drained to Take Over Leadership of Rapid Reaction Force'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO military leaders believe that the UK armed forces will not be able to take over the leadership of the alliance's rapid reaction force this year due to the exhaustion of its military resources caused primarily by the country's assistance to Ukraine, British media reported, citing sources in the UK Defense Ministry.

The United Kingdom is set to inherit the leadership of NATO's rapid reaction force from Germany in late 2023. However, the alliance has asked Berlin to remain at the head of the bloc's force for another year since London is unable to provide 5,000 soldiers required, the newspaper reported.

"There are serious problems with ammunition shortages and other kit which is partly due to underspending – but also because of the amount of ammo and other ordnance we are supplying to Ukraine. Our forces are also stretched because of the extent to which they are training Ukrainian forces," UK media quoted one of the sources as saying.

The UK is now in its most vulnerable position since the Second World War, since the British army is the smallest it has been in four centuries, and the navy is less than half what it was during the Falklands War in 1982, the news outlet reported.

In late January, Tobias Ellwood, who heads the UK parliamentary Defense Select Committee, told a different British media outlet that the UK army was "in a dire state" despite two decades of multi-billion dollar investments.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace also confirmed then that the UK army had "fallen behind its peer group" and needed investments. Despite this fact, Ellwood stated that the UK, already involved in the Ukraine conflict, needed to "face Russia directly rather than leaving Ukraine to do all the work."

The UK is among Western countries actively supplying Ukraine with various types of weapon systems and training the Ukrainian military personnel amid Russia's special military operation. On January 15, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that his country would send 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev. Later, the UK Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian troops had begun to learn how to operate British tanks.